How Much Money Do Personal Injury Cases Typically Settle For in Missouri?

About the Author



Ethan Charles (“EC”) Duckworth is the founding attorney of Duckworth Injury Law. EC earned his law degree from the University of Missouri - Columbia, where he graduated in the top 10 of his class and served as an Editor of the Missouri Law Review. EC currently serves as a member of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys (MATA) and is a graduate of the Ross T. Roberts Trial Academy. EC has represented hundreds of injury victims throughout his career resulting in tens of millions of dollars in compensation recovered.  EC takes pride in maximizing the value of every personal injury case he handles and always provides clear explanation to his clients regarding their respective case’s value. Follow EC Duckworth on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/in/ec-duckworth

Between Medical Costs & Replacing Damaged Property, You Need an Attorney Who Will Follow Your Case to Court. Find Out What Shapes a Personal Injury Settlement With Missouri's Duckworth Injury Law.

While exact data and comprehensive research on the topic is limited, at least one study found that personal injury settlements for 2025 averaged between $24,000 to $55,100, with an overall estimated settlement average of $40,500. 

While this information provides a very broad barometer of the personal injury settlement landscape, the data should be taken with a grain of salt. As the name suggests, personal injury claims are just that – they are “personal” to the particular injured claimant. Every personal injury case is unique, and it can be very difficult to attempt to use generalized data to support the settlement value of a specific case. To determine the specific settlement value of your particular personal injury claim, many factors must be considered, including the following.

1) The Severity of Your Injuries

Simply put, the more serious the injuries you sustained, the higher value your case will likely be. A wrongful death or catastrophic injury case (e.g., amputation, disfigurement, spinal injury, traumatic brain injury, etc.) will be valued substantially higher than a soft-tissue (e.g., whiplash) case. In most cases, non-economic damages (e.g., pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life) will correspond with the severity of your injuries. Damages for a wrongful death or catastrophic injury case can easily reach seven or even eight figures, while a soft tissue claim will often not reach six figures (without unique circumstances).

2) Past and Future Medical Bills

In line with the severity of your injuries, your past and future medical bills will often correlate. Past and future medical bills are referred to as “economic damages”, which are damages that you can objectively quantify with tangible values. In a personal injury case, both past and future medical bills caused from the accident are recoverable. While past medical bills are usually straightforward to calculate, future medical bills are calculated with the assistance of an expert medical doctor and/or life care planner. The life care planner will typically meet with the plaintiff, review the plaintiff’s medical records, and project the cost of required future treatment needed as a result of the accident. 

3) Lost Wages

Lost wages and/or lost earning capacity is another category of economic damages in a personal injury case. The longer you are required to be out of work after your accident, the larger your lost wages claim will be. If you are no longer able to work at all following a serious injury causing crash, or if you can no longer perform your job to the same degree you could prior to the crash, a vocational expert and/or economist may be required to calculate the full extent of your lost wages claim. 

4) Liability in Causing the Accident

In addition to your damages sustained in an accident, the parties’ respective liability in causing the accident will also affect the value of your personal injury claim. Missouri follows a pure comparative fault model in allocating fault between a plaintiff and a defendant in a personal injury negligence claim. That means if you are partly at fault for causing the accident, your personal injury case value will be reduced in proportion to your own percentage of fault. For example, if you are involved in a car accident in which you are 50% at fault for causing the crash, your case value will be reduced by 50% (e.g., if your total damages are $100,000, your comparative fault in causing the crash will reduce the case value to $50,000). 

5) The Insurance Coverage Available

While the amount of insurance coverage available doesn’t affect the technical value of your claim (i.e., what your case would be valued by a jury at trial), it certainly affects the practical value of your claim (i.e., what you can actually recover for your claim). Put differently, there are often situations where a personal injury claimant’s damages exceed the insurance coverage limits of the at-fault party. In these situations, an analysis must be made as to whether it makes sense to pursue a judgment against the at-fault party above and beyond the insurance coverage limits available. In making this analysis, your attorney must consider what assets are recoverable from the at-fault party to satisfy the judgment you may obtain. If it appears the at-fault party lacks assets to pay the expected judgment (sometimes referred to as “judgment proof”), your best option may be to accept the available insurance coverage limits of the at-fault party (even if this means accepting an amount less than your claim’s true value).

Book a Free Consultation With EC Duckworth & Start Reviewing Your Personal Injury Case in Missouri

If you’ve been involved in a personal injury causing accident in Columbia, Jefferson City, the Lake of the Ozarks, or anywhere else across mid-Missouri, you need a personal injury lawyer who understands your case’s value and who will fight to get you your case’s maximize value. EC Duckworth of Duckworth Injury Law has a proven track record of maximizing case values, having secured tens of millions of dollars in compensation for his clients. EC is not afraid to take a case to trial, as documented by his $973,000 jury verdict for a contested liability motor vehicle vs. pedestrian collision in Warrensburg, MO. 

Whether your personal injury or wrongful death claim involves a car accident, truck accident, motorcycle accident, or boating accident, Duckworth Injury Law will provide you with a clear explanation as to the value of your claim and will do everything in his power to recover what your case is worth. If you’d like to discuss the value of your particular case, reach out to Duckworth Injury Law today for a free case evaluation and consultation.